1 Samuel 26:19-20
26:19 So let my lord the king now listen to the words of his servant. If the Lord has incited you against me, may he take delight in 1 an offering. But if men have instigated this, 2 may they be cursed before the Lord! For they have driven me away this day from being united with the Lord’s inheritance, saying, ‘Go on, serve other gods!’
26:20 Now don’t let my blood fall to the ground away from the Lord’s presence, for the king of Israel has gone out to look for a flea the way one looks for a partridge 3 in the hill country.”
1 tn Heb “may he smell.” The implication is that Saul should seek to appease God, for such divine instigation to evil would a sign of God’s disfavor. For a fuller discussion of this passage see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 19-21.
2 tn Heb “but if the sons of men.”
3 tn Heb “the calling [one],” which apparently refers to a partridge.